“Hah. Haha. Ha, hahaha!” The warrior roared with blatant laughter as its body continued to shake with pure joy, “Nothing you can do to me will be worse than what my lord has already done. There is nothing that can be done to make me terrified enough to betray my superiors.”
The Spartan couldn’t help but grit his teeth at that response. That was an absolute failure. While he hadn’t had his hopes up, and he had a feeling that such an action would prove to be for naught, he had anticipated the warrior being so cocky that they’d talk regardless.
“Truly? I hope you understand that you are alone here and now.” With that, he ripped out his spear from the leg and plunged it into the soldier’s stomach once more. A roar of pain and rage burst from the fallen warrior as the Spartan proceeded to twist and turn his weapon.
“Speak! I can go all day! You have no means of fighting back and all your comrades are dead!”
“Hah! You think this is my entire regiment?” The warrior rasped, “How naive. We are legion, endless and overreaching. We are everywhere. No matter what you do or how far you go, we will always be there. Even if we do not adorn the same armaments or armor, we are all loyal to the true God. The one that has taken the throne rightfully and has brought a new change to the world.”
Great. So he was dealing with a fanatic. This one had delved far too deeply into the words of a madman and no longer had any semblance of sanity. The only thing he could do now was put an end to this pitiful existence and claim the divinity it held.
Well now. There was no need to entertain this thing anymore. He’d have to go searching on his own with all of this. With that, he thrust his spear into both legs and destroyed the flesh protrusions that laid dormant within. The soldier spasmed before turning into a pile of dust and bone, leaving behind the black shard in its wake.
Another piece of divinity to add to his growing power. The Spartan didn’t even hesitate this time to touch the shard. Once more, he began to lose consciousness, though there was one thing that he found interesting as he fell asleep.
His divinity shut down the moment he touched the shard.
----------------------------------------
Unlike the last two times, this time he had a full view of the world around him. He found himself standing inside a giant, lavish room, one with multiple cloth garments scattered throughout the walls. There were multiple gold ordained tables throughout the area, each of them set up to act as resting places for any weary souls that had stumbled into this area. Extravagant meals with huge pitchers of what seemed to be wine were on top of these surfaces, with what seemed to be steam coming off of these dishes.
A shame that there weren’t any individuals chowing down on these delicious looking meals. No, all the inhabitants seemed to be arguing. The woman and the second man from before were present in the room, this time accompanied by another man who seemed to be stuck in a bed with a giant cloth placed on top of his forehead. It was clear that he had suffered some injuries as he seemed to be moaning and groaning while resting, though his bad state was not enough to stop the arguing going on between the two parties.
“What was that?” The man shouted, “What did you do? I gave you one job to do, and you had everything turn out the way it did. How are you going to explain yourself, huh?!”
“I-I’m sorry!” The woman yelped frantically, her voice apologetic and panicked, “I swear that I didn’t anticipate things going out the way it did! I promise, I expected things to have turned out better, not this!”
“That’s not good enough! I had expected better of you, to not have done what you did! What made you think that this action you took was the best method possible? I anticipated news of my lord becoming a hero, not of him and his retinue being attacked in the middle of his streets! Whispers of how his soldiers were all cut down to the last man and that he had to come out and defeat all the assassins after him? This wasn’t the plan!”
“What plan?! What plan!” The woman screeched as she stomped forward, jabbing a finger into the man’s chest, “You told me exactly to make him a hero. I did exactly that! He’s a well known figure for cutting down vile bandits that roam around the city streets, trying to take their sadistic tendencies on any innocents. What more do you want?”
“Not this!” The man gestured towards the one in the bed, “Not trauma! I want him to be standing proud and full of recognition, not be known as a survivor who barely won a battle! You were meant to provide the public reason to believe in him! Now, they most likely think he’s some kind of weakling who can’t even fight on his own!”
“You just said he won the battle by himself! I’d argue that watching all his men die and then come out on top would be heroic!”
“What kind of hallucinogens have you been taking that makes you think making my lord a hero would be ‘ah yes, hiring some assassins should do the trick’? What kind of person thinks that?!”
“I honestly expected that he and his soldiers would be up to snuff!” The woman grabbed her head and sat down on a nearby seat, “For all that you hyped up the soldiers, I expected so much more! It’s not my fault I had to calibrate for all the bragging you did and–”
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Spare me the platitudes, wench!” The man roared, interrupting her in her charade and putting a hand on a sword handle, “I have half the mind to chop your head off here and now! You could have had him save a poor woman out on the street, take care of some poor souls on the road, not this!”
“I–That–I had imagined you wanted it to be natural! To make it seem like this was the best means possible! This was the best I could do here and now!”
“You lie! I should–”
“Enough!” The single word that came from the man resting on the bed shook the room and caused bits of the roof and wall to come down to the ground. The woman clenched the surface of the table and cowered as flakes of rock came down into her hair, while the other man flinched from the loud noise. Both of them stayed still, before turning their eyes towards their lord.
The man seemed exhausted and defeated. His eyes had deep bags underneath, and all that remained on his face was a bitter look. He took his time to scan the two before taking a deep breath and looking towards the man.
“You wished to make me a hero, yes? Why did you not inform me of this decision?”
“I–My lord, please, you must understand, I only meant the best for you.” The man frantically spoke to clearly cover up his mistakes, “This was all a necessity to ensure your place in the world. You had spoken of becoming the one that could go against your brother, and I truly believe that–”
“Please.” The lord put his head into his hands, not wanting to hear anymore. The man looked shocked and hurt as he looked away, clear signs of shame present on his face. That was when the lord turned to the woman with a sigh.
“Really? Was that the best decision to make? Were there truly no other options besides sending assassins my way?”
“My lord, please, you must understand,” the woman took on a pleading tone, “If you were to be seen as a hero, then one must do great things. In order to obtain such an achievement, insane actions are demanded. Taking down bandits is considered the typical job of the knights, saving a peasant woman is nothing more than a farce and there is no way for me to get access to a noblewoman to make such a thing grand. With your position, I doubt your brother will allow you to have any severe combat positions for fear of losing you, and thus I had to improvise. There were no plans that I could use, and this was the only method I knew.
“Though, perhaps this could all be used as a way to advance your agenda, my lord.”
“What?” The man looked at the woman with an incredulous look on his face, “How can that be? That cannot be possible–”
“It is.” The woman put her foot down as she glared at the man, before turning to her lord once more, “No one knows who sent the assassins. That means we have the chance to turn the public perception to our favor. We can create some mystique around the area, perhaps paint you in a great light to make it seem as if some corrupt individual in the higher rankings arranged for your death. Maybe even your brother! That way, we can kill two birds with one stone!”
“Typically, one would think an assassin is sent because that person had done wrong.” The lord pointed out, making the woman cringe a bit, before bursting out in laughter. “But I see your point. Very well, we shall give it a try. Get your people to give off all the rumors of the vile person that would dare have me killed. Try to spin it in a positive light for me, understood?”
“Ah, yes! My lord, I will do as commanded!”
“My lord, please don’t tell me you believe this bitch!” The man roared as he stepped forward, “This is nothing more than the last ditch effort to get away from punishment! Please, let me take her down here and now and be rid of her vile influence once and for all!”
“Of course you would say something like that! This crackpot scheme was the beginning of your whole desire to go behind our lord’s back!”
“You bitch, I ought to–”
“Enough!” The lord shouted, before sighing as he leaned into his bed. “Just go. Do your job.”
“As–as you wish, my lord.” The woman nodded her head, before frantically leaving the room behind. The two that remained were the lord and his possible second-in-command, the duo staying where they were and not saying much amongst each other.
There was an awkward silence that began to settle within the room. None spoke and none acted, as there was nothing that could be said or done to alleviate everything that had transpired in that argument.
Then, the lord spoke first.
“My friend, why? Why did you have to go behind my back like that? I had told you to have faith in me, that I was working on my duties. Did I leave you with so little to believe that you had to do something as drastic as this?”
“My lord, please… I had to do something.” The man spoke softly, unable to look his lord in the eyes, “I worried that what you had planned would not be enough. Your brother watches your every move out of fear. I had thought that I could act on your behalf and ensure that everything would turn out fine. I–”
“My friend. Please.” The lord sighed before looking down, before shaking his head. “The next time you want to try something like this, ask me first, okay? Let me be informed of the decision you’ll be taking, so I can at least be prepared for whatever is to come.”
“I–” The man paused before nodding. “I understand. I apologize for worrying you and going behind your back like that. I promise, this won’t happen again.”
With the apology said and done, the atmosphere seemed to lighten up. The man and his lord seemed to reconcile both agendas and were more than ready to work together once more for a common goal. Yet somehow, none of that seemed real.
The Spartan was certain the man would not learn. Simply a hunch.